Adamawa: Truck loses control, kills nine

Many people were reportedly killed, yesterday, in an early morning auto accident involving a truck at Vinikland, on the outskirts of Yola, along the ever-busy Yola-Mubi Federal highways.

But officials of the Federal Road Safety Corp, FRSC, Adamawa Command, said nine persons were killed in the accident.

According to the FRSC officials, the truck, conveying laterite sand, lost control while descending the River Benue bridge and rammed into a motorcycle mechanic workshop.

Eyewitnesses added that the truck veered off the road after a tyre burst at the Vinikland junction, close to the Jimeta bridge, and rammed into a crowd of hawkers, passers-by, vehicle shops and others close to the road.

“Isa Usman, a traffic control police officer, was the first casualty, the truck hit and smashed him before it rammed into the mechanics,” an eyewitness, Talatu Addison, told our correspondent.

Another eyewitness, Drambi Ezra, said: “It was like a horror scene to see the truck crushing mechanics while working on vehicles.

“I counted over nine crushed bodies on the spot. We evacuated the remains of their bodies into a police van,” he said.

The driver of the truck was said to have escaped and abandoned his vehicle, sparking outrage, as angry youths set the truck ablaze.“The fire spread from the vehicle, razing many shops and destroying an electricity transformer.

At the time Vanguard visited the scene, a combined team of policemen, Road Safety marshals, firefighters and Red Cross officials were busy evacuating dead bodies and the injured.“The Spokesperson for the police in Adamawa state, SP Suleiman Nguroje,  confirmed the accident, saying, “one police officer from the Motor Transport Department, Isa Usman and eight others have now been confirmed dead.” Punch